A Land Rover Defender sits on display on the opening day of the IAA Frankfurt Motor Show in Frankfurt, Germany, on September 10, 2019.
Krisztian Bocsi | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Jaguar Land Rover said Tuesday it was working on the prototype of a hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle, with testing of the concept slated to start later this year.
The vehicle will be based on the new version of the company’s Land Rover Defender, and is part of JLR’s broader attempt to meet a target of zero tailpipe emissions by the year 2036. Testing of the vehicle will focus on areas such as fuel consumption and off-road capabilities.
In an announcement, the company — which is owned by Tata Motors — described fuel cell electric vehicles as being “complimentary to battery electric vehicles … on the journey to net zero vehicle emissions.”
“Hydrogen-powered FCEVs provide high energy density and rapid refuelling, and minimal loss of range in low temperatures, making the technology ideal for larger, longer-range vehicles, or those operated in hot or cold environments,” the company added.
As governments attempt to reduce emissions and boost urban air quality, the vehicles people use do look set to change.
The U.K., for instance, plans to stop the sale of new diesel and gasoline vehicles from 2030. From the year 2035, all new cars and vans will need to have zero tailpipe emissions.
Companies such as JLR are, slowly but surely, attempting to adapt to this new reality. Earlier this year, the firm announced its Jaguar brand would go all-electric from the year 2025. The business also said its Land Rover segment would roll out six “pure electric variants” over the next five years.
Hydrogen’s ‘role to play’
Described by the International Energy Agency as a “versatile energy carrier,” hydrogen has a diverse range of applications and can be deployed in sectors such as industry and transport.
“We know hydrogen has a role to play in the future powertrain mix across the whole transport industry, and alongside battery electric vehicles,” Ralph Clague, head of hydrogen and fuel cells for Jaguar Land Rover, said in a statement.
Clague went on to add that it offered “another zero tailpipe emission solution for the specific capabilities and requirements” of JLR’s vehicle line-up.
Jaguar Land Rover is not the only automotive company to look at hydrogen-powered vehicles. Other manufacturers that have dipped into the hydrogen fuel cell market include Toyota and Honda, while smaller firms such as Riversimple are also working on hydrogen powered cars.
The global wind industry installed 117 gigawatts (GW) of new capacity in 2023, making it the best year ever for new wind energy – here’s what happened and where.
The Global Wind Report 2024, newly released by the Global Wind Energy Council representing the entire wind energy sector, found that the 117 GW of installations in 2023 represent a 50% year-over-year increase from 2022. Annual wind installations increased in all regions except Europe and North America.
Further, the year saw 54 countries representing all continents build new wind power. The top 5 markets for new wind installations are China, US, Brazil, Germany, and India.
China set a new record with 75 GW of new installations commissioned, which makes up nearly 65% of the global total. That underpinned a record year for the Asia-Pacific region, which saw year-over-year growth of 106%.
Brazil installed 4.8 GW of wind in 2023, putting the country in third place globally. As a result, Latin America also saw record year-over-year growth of 21%.
Wind installations in Africa & Middle East increased in 2023 by 182% compared with 2022.
Global cumulative wind power capacity passed the first 1 terawatt (TW) milestone in 2023, and now totals 1,021 GW, following year-over-year growth of 13%.
Onshore wind had the best year on record in 2023, surpassing 100 GW in a single year with 106 GW, or a year-over-year growth of 54%. Offshore wind had its second-best year on record with 10.8 GW total installed.
The Global Wind Energy Council announced that it’s revised its 2024-2030 growth forecast (1210 GW) upwards by 10%, in response to the wind industry “entering a new era of accelerated growth driven by increased political ambition.”
Ben Backwell, CEO of GWEC, said:
It’s great to see wind industry growth picking up, and we are proud of reaching a new annual record. However, much more needs to be done to unlock growth by policymakers, industry, and other stakeholders to get on to the 3X pathway needed to reach net zero.
Growth is highly concentrated in a few big countries like China, the US, Brazil, and Germany, and we need many more countries to remove barriers and improve market frameworks to scale up wind installations.
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Tesla confirmed that it spent $200,000 to advertise on Elon Musk’s X, formerly Twitter, so far.
For years, Musk has famously said that he despises advertising. He said that Tesla doesn’t pay or provide discounts for celebrities to drive its cars and that the automaker doesn’t pay to advertise – though we have seen exceptions before.
Tesla fans and investors have often suggested that the company at least try it, but the CEO consistently pushed back against the idea – going as far as saying that he “hates” advertising.
But interestingly, things started to change after Musk bought Twitter, which is reliant on advertising.
A few months after Musk acquired Twitter, Tesla held its annual shareholders meeting and the CEO was asked about Tesla starting to advertise.
Musk even pointed out the irony of the situation:
“It’s indeed ironic. Twitter is highly dependent on advertising. Hear I am, never really used advertising before and now I have a company that is highly dependent on advertising. I guess I should say that advertising is awesome and everyone should do it.”
The CEO then announced that Tesla would indeed start to advertise.
We had doubts that Tesla would start advertising on X because of the conflict of interest nad on top of it, Musk himself ad mitted that it would be “preaching to the choir.”
However, we were wrong.
X users reported starting to see Tesla ads on X starting in February 2024.
Today, with the release of its proxy statement for its 2024 shareholders meeting, Tesla confirmed that it spent $200,000 on advertising on Elon Musk’s X:
X is party to certain commercial, consulting and support agreements with Tesla. Under these agreements, X incurred expenses of approximately $1 million in 2023 and approximately $0.02 million through February 2024, and Tesla incurred expenses of approximately $0.05 million in 2023 and approximately $0.03 million through February 2024. As part of a multi-platform advertising campaign, Tesla also directly or indirectly purchased advertising on X, which totaled approximately $0.2 million through February 2024.
Tesla has to disclose transactions with “related parties” of its board members and executives.
The other transactions mentioned with X, including the $1 million of “incurred expenses”, is believed to have to do with Musk using Tesla engineers at X:
The information included in the proxy makes it unclear if Musk asked Tesla’s board to use the engineers or even if X ended up paying for the services as it is only listed as “incurred expenses”.
Electrek’s Take
This is such a strange situation that you just generally not see at major companies like Tesla.
It’s clear that Elon didn’t want Tesla to advertise on Instagram and Facebook, but it did anyway at the same time as it started advertising on X – seemingly to make it easier to swallow.
But these transactions between Tesla and X are for sure going to be investigated since even though Tesla obviously tries to keep things as vague as possible in the statement, statements and testimonies around his compensation lawsuits point to Elon not asking Tesla’s board to use Tesla engineers and after the fact, they made this “$1 million deal” to make things OK.
It’s dangerous legal tight rope to use resources of a public company you manage for a private company you own.
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The US Department of Energy has just released its first-ever roadmap to speed up the connection of more clean energy to the grid.
The goal is to finally clear the huge backlog of solar, wind, and battery projects waiting to be built. According to a report recently released by DOE’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, nearly 2,600 gigawatts of clean energy generation and battery storage capacity are actively seeking grid interconnection.
The Transmission Interconnection Roadmap, developed by DOE’s Interconnection Innovation e-Xchange (i2X), is for all stakeholders, from transmission providers to interconnection customers to state agencies and more.
The roadmap also sets aggressive targets for interconnection improvement by 2030 and outlines tools to quickly and efficiently connect more clean energy projects to the grid.
Ultimately, the roadmap is designed to ensure the Biden administration’s goal of 100% clean electricity by 2035 is achieved.
US Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm said:
Clearing the backlog of nearly 12,000 solar, wind, and storage projects waiting to connect to the grid is essential to deploying clean electricity to more Americans.
Through the i2X program, the Biden-Harris Administration is accelerating the interconnection process by ensuring all stakeholders have better access to data and improved standards and procedures as we seek to develop and maintain a more efficient, reliable and clean grid.
Increase data access, transparency, and security for interconnection. This offers solutions to improve the scope, accessibility, quality, and standardization of data on projects already in interconnection queues. It also aims to enhance the scope, timeliness, accuracy, and consistency of interconnection study models and modeling assumptions that transmission providers make available to interconnection customers.
Improve interconnection process and timeline. This contains solutions to improve queue management practices, affected system studies, inclusive and fair processes, and workforce development.
Promote economic efficiency in interconnection. This offers solutions to improve cost allocation, reduce costs to electricity consumers, enhance the coordination between transmission planning and the interconnection process, and optimize the rightsizing of transmission investment through improvements in interconnection studies.
Maintain a reliable, resilient, and secure grid. Includes updating technical requirements within interconnection studies, models, and tools while also improving industry interconnection standards.
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